I will be trying to do a little blogging when I hear interesting volcano related items – it depends on how much my iPod likes the ScienceBlogs blogging software, but hey, if not, I will try to jot things down and blog about them later in the evening.

Comments

The report on Tianchi/Baitoushan interested me for a number of reasons: particularly the low estimated temperature of the rhyolite melt (649 degress C????), the short time the rhyolite stayed in place before eruption (7-8ka) and -as an aside- the size of the eruption, comparable to Tambora 1815. Presumably re-classification back to VEI 7 is on the cards.

I wonder if historical records from 11th Century Europe chronicle a specific year with abnormally low temperatures/ poor weather? Might give a more specific date for the eruption (cf Tambora’s climate effects)

Okataina is totally fascinating. There was a paper (which are are no doubt familiar with) postulating an entire film of magma underneath the TVZ (where the crust is quite thin) which again is no doubt a major over-simplification. Nevertheless, it is fascinating how inter-connected the whole region is. The 181 AD Taupo eruption seems to have erupted from four discrete vents spaced widely apart and possibly tapping different parts of the magmatic system.

What is your take on the basaltic eruption of 1883? Does this mark the end phase of the caldera complex or that the magma chambers have exhausted their rhyolite?

mike is also quite right to be interested in the Tianchi eruption. Along with the recent paper on Chaiten, it looks like rhyolite complexes can develop into an eruptive phase quite quickly. I’d love to know where the water came from in the Tianchi eruption. The 181 AD Taupo eruption started off fairly normally (dry) but seemed to breach the floor of a supposed lake on the fourth day leading to a huge explosion (approx. 80 – 100 km³) eruption within the space of a few minutes. Would be nice to know if something similar was at play here.

mike, totally. I mean, the whole region is dominated by rhyolite and at best a bit of andesite and then we get this basaltic eruption coming through along exactly the same fissure that created huge rhyolite domes (like three times Chaiten) just a few hundred years ago.